Ah Steampunk – and the singular allure of Victoriana with added steam, cogs and fantastical contrivances. What’s that sir / madam? You’d like an overview of the literary diversions of the very same and associated anachronistic, retro-futuristic fiction published in 2017? Well you’ve come to the right place!

We have many fine articles for your perusal here after, but it seems you’ve landed on the very one you’re looking for: read on!

Just what is it about London? The number of people? A history so rich it becomes a mythos also? That it’s the capital? Well all of the above and more – including the fact they say ‘write what you know’ and there’s more than a few writing types in the Big Smoke.

Somewhere between highlights and exhaustive compilation, here’s our compilation of extraordinary London titles: fantastical and speculative, the cultural, subcultural and political, historical and mythological, steampunk and urban fantasy, the mercurial and the liminal… Title copy is the publishers; just click the hyperlink in the month field to see what we had to say on the title and other (non-London) titles published that month.

Irene passed the mop across the stone floor in smooth, careful strokes, idly admiring the gleam of wet flagstones in the lantern-light. Her back was complaining, but that was only normal after an evening’s work cleaning. The cleaning was certainly necessary. The pupils at Prince Mordred’s Private Academy for Boys managed to get just as much mud and muck on the floor as any other teenagers would. Clean indoor studies in the dark arts, military history and alchemy didn’t preclude messy outdoor classes in strategic combat, duelling, open-field assassination and rugby.

The clock in the study struck the quarter-hour. That gave her forty-five minutes before the midnight orisons and chants. She knew from weeks of experience – and, to be honest, her own memories of boarding school – that the boys wouldn’t be getting up a moment earlier than necessary. This meant most would be dragging themselves out of bed at eleven forty-five, before heading to the chapel with hastily thrown-on clothes and barely brushed hair. So that gave her thirty minutes before any of them started moving.

Ah Steampunk – and the singular allure of Victoriana with added steam, cogs and fantastical contrivances. What’s that sir / madam? You’d like a 6 month overview of the literary diversions of the very same and associated anachronistic, retro-futuristic fiction? Well you’ve come to the right place!

We have many fine articles for your perusal here after, but it seems you’ve landed on the very one you’re looking for: read on!

Viola Carr was born in a strange and distant land, but wandered into darkest London one foggy October evening and never found her way out. She now devours countless history books and dictates fantastical novels by gaslight, accompanied by classical music and the snoring of her slumbering cat.

Additional:

Hailing from Australia and having been a law student, an air force officer, an editorial assistant and a musician, Erica Hayes then established herself as an author of Paranormal and SFF Romance. Now writing as Viola Carr she brings a new paranormal history / steampunk world to the streets of London with her Electric Empire series. This began with the Diabolical Miss Hyde in February 2015 and continues in October with The Devious Dr Jekyll; you can read more on the first on our Harper Voyager Jan-Jun 15 New Titles page or our Steampunk New Titles page of the same period.

A short time after sending Mr. Lewis back to work, Mr. Treadwell and Mr. Snips leaned against a wooden railing above the Thames and looked down into the void opened by the Great Sink-Hole, as the Times referred to it. From their vantage point they could see little of the cave that reportedly led away beneath Upper Thames Street, but they could easily make out the remnants of the fallen buildings and the rubble of broken pavement that lay mired thirty feet below.

An army of men was active along the river: shipwrights, carpenters, masons, and laborers taking hurried advantage of the waning tide, and, in the case of the laborers, of the Crown’s offer of ten shillings a day for ten hours work, many of the men working double shifts to gain the one-crown bonus. A bulwark of posts had been sunk into the Thames mud in a great half circle around the hole. The posts were fitted with strake upon strake of good English oak. The pitch tubs were smoking hot, the heaps of oakum ready for the caulking mallets. A portable crane on a barge belched steam and noise as it placed enormous boulders at the upriver end of the hole in order to convince the Thames to flow around it rather than sloshing into it when the tide rose again.

*
Stephen Hunt had had numerous shorts and other writings beforehand began his rise to prominence on the SFF scene with the publication of his Steampunk / Gas Lamp Fantasy book The Court of the Air. This was published in a three-book deal, the subject of a high-level bidding war between the major publishers and won by Harper Voyager, was extended to six and became the Jackelian series. His latest, the Far-Called series, was acquired and published by Gollancz.

Known to have been something of a pioneer of the internet, it’s perhaps no surprise that he’s rather cannily grabbed two very broad, genre-based names for his Facebook pages (above) for the fans of his own works and of the genres themselves.

In the authors words:JONATHAN GREEN is a writer of speculative fiction, with more than fifty books to his name. Well known for his contributions to the Fighting Fantasy range of adventure gamebooks, he has also written fiction for such diverse properties as Doctor Who, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Warhammer, Warhammer 40,000, Sonic the Hedgehog, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Moshi Monsters, World of Warriors, Lego and Judge Dredd.

Chapter One

Khartoum, 29 October 1905

Eleanor tightened her cotton keffiyeh round her face and squinted through the shimmering haze of the afternoon. Before her, the mud-baked flats of the North Sudan spread out as far as the eye could see. They shimmered in the heat, shades of cinnamon, flint and ochre.

Her camel grunted and stepped sideways, instantly disrupting the caravan of beasts as it wound its way along the dusty track.

‘Whoa,’ Elle said. She leaned forward and, using her long riding cane, patted his sand-coloured neck to reassure him. In response, he turned his head and tried to bite her foot, leaving a trail of foul greenish snot over the leather of her polished boots.

Ah Steampunk – and the singular allure of Victoriana with added steam, cogs and fantastical contrivances. What’s that sir / madam? You’d like a 6 month overview of the literary diversions of the very same and associated anachronistic, retro-futuristic fiction? Well you’ve come to the right place!

We have many fine articles for your perusal here after, but it seems you’ve landed on the very one you’re looking for: read on!

For your enjoyment and anticipation: select visuals from the upcoming and concluding part of Alan Moore and Kevin O’Neill’s League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Nemo Trilogy! Title information is copied below or check it out along with more greatness for the season from Knockabout here.

The first month of 2015 brings readers a superb list from which to pick their next read, and anyone attempting to recommend an unenviable task in trying to pick the best – one we couldn’t quite achieve without allowing ourselves a joint award. Read the rest of this entry »

Here’s an (edited) look at what Titan Books have coming for you over the period January to June 2015! We’ll be bringing you our particular recommends of all publishers together by month of publication. Note: Publication dates are liable to change and some jackets are still to come…

Here’s a look at what Del Rey have coming for you over the period January to June 2015! We’ll be bringing you our particular recommends of all publishers together by month of publication. Note: Publication dates are liable to change and some jackets are still to come…